Gridcoin has updated to GRC 4.0! The hard fork took effect on November 6th at block 1,420,000, with 95.6% of the previous 1000 blocks staked by 4.0 clients denoting overwhelming consensus. 

The most notable change with GRC 4.0 is the introduction of a constant block reward (CBR), rewarding those who help to secure Gridcoin’s proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain with a static 10 GRC for every staked block. CBR replaces the 1.5% APR interest mechanism that was previously in effect. This change was approved by the network in three separate polls and produces a number of technological and economic advantages. These advantages include:

- Increasing the ratio of GRC minted to more heavily favor rewards for distributed computing tasks over GRC minted by staking
- Reducing monetary inflation from 3.93% to 3.4% while also implementing a disinflation model that will reduce inflation past 3.0% after 5 years
- Incentivizing members of the network to leave their wallets up-to-date and online to secure the network
- Encouraging members of the Gridcoin network to maintain balances of GRC sufficient to stake blocks

Gridcoin is a dual-incentive open-source blockchain that uses a PoS consensus mechanism to secure its blockchain. It incentivizes securing the network as well as contributing computing power to community-approved scientific, research, and data analytic tasks on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC). 

Gridcoin attracts a diverse network of science and technology enthusiasts who want to use currency incentive models to improve lives around the world while remaining environmentally friendly. Our journey began and continues by driving scientific discovery and research. The implementation of CBR is one more step on our endless quest to apply blockchain technology to real-world problems.